The present invention relates to razor blade units, in particular razor blade units for attachment at the front end of razor handles.
Many razor heads for wet razors are known in the art. Generally, razor heads or razor blade units comprise a body which is formed from a plastic housing having a razor blade assembly arranged thereon and is designed to be attached at the front end of a razor handle. In the case of a permanent, rigid connection between the handle and the razor head, i.e, as with an entirely disposable razor unit, the head can consist exclusively of a razor blade assembly. If however the razor head as the razor blade unit can be separated from the handle, as with a disposable cartridge and permanent handle, the razor head includes both plastic housing elements and a razor blade assembly connected thereto. Wet razors of this kind are generally mass-produced articles which are used for daily shaving, cosmetic hair removal, or in the medical field.
Known razor heads usually consist of a plastic housing having a seat and a cap, between which is arranged one or more razor blades with cutting edges pointing in one direction. The cutting edges of the razor blades can be spanned with spaced-apart wires. As the body locations to be shaved are irregular, a number of measures have already been proposed to make guiding of the blades relative to the skin to be shaved flexible. Thus pivot joints arranged in the handle region, razor blades which are inserted in razor blade assemblies for movement in the cutting edge plane, and flexible blades are all known in the art. All the proposed measures are intended to improve the results of shaving by the fact that the cutting edges of the blades can be brought as close as possible to the surface to be shaved. The known systems generally cause relative mobility of the razor blades in relation to the skin to be shaved, but may not ensure that the razor blades actually follow the skin to be shaved, utilize a maximum possible cutting width and retain an optimum possible cutting angle.
Razor heads of this kind which can be guided in more than one direction for shaving purposes are not known in the art. In particular, known razor heads for use in the cosmetic and medical fields for shaving body locations which are difficult to access, for example the bends of the elbows and knees, lead to unsatisfactory shaving results, produce an unpleasant feel of shaving and, in particular, do not position the cutting edges close enough to the surface to be shaved. For this reason the respective locations must be shaved repeatedly one after the other. Further, the conventional razor heads obstruct free guiding of the blades due to forced relative positioning of housing and blade unit elements.